Computer-based method and apparatus for controlling, monitoring, recording and reporting telephone access

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for managing institutional telephone activity utilizes a computer control unit to control a trunk management unit, which connects institutional telephones to outside telephone lines. The computer control unit contains a database for storing the calling privileges and restrictions of institutional users and for recording calling transactions made by the users. The computer control unit implements a prospective call screening feature whereby outside recipients of undesired calls from the institution may enter a code that directs the computer control unit to prohibit similar calls in the future.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/904,784,entitled “Computer-Based Method and Apparatus for Controlling,Monitoring, Recording and Reporting Telephone Access,” filed Aug. 1,1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,323, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 08/510,327, filed Aug. 2, 1995, which was issued as U.S. Pat.No. 5,655,013, which is a continuation of application Ser. No.08/229,517, filed Apr. 19, 1994, which was abandoned. The aboveapplications are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the fields oftelecommunications and penal institution management. More particularly,the invention relates to a computer-based method and apparatus forcontrolling, monitoring, recording and reporting access to outsidetelephone lines in a controlled, institutional environment, such as aprison, military base, hospital, school, business or governmentorganization.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Generally, the need to control access to outside telephone lines in aninstitutional environment is well recognized. In order to preventindividuals from incurring large, unaccountable telephone costs whichthe institution ultimately bears, one must either restrict access tooutside telephone lines or institute accounting controls whereby thecosts of unauthorized calls can be billed to the responsibleindividuals.

Telephone systems in correctional environments require additionalsecurity considerations. Without appropriate controls on telephoneaccess, inmates have been known to use the telephones to harass outsideparties (such as witnesses who testified against them, attorneys whoprosecuted their case, employees of the courts, etc.), to perpetratefraudulent schemes, and to participate in criminal conspiracies (such asarranging the smuggling of contraband into the prison, directing anoutside criminal enterprise, plotting escape attempts or credit cardfraud). Therefore, it is critically important for correctionalmanagement officials to carefully plan, control, monitor and recordinmate access to outside telephone lines.

One of the most fundamental problems—which exists both in correctionaland other business-oriented institutions—is cost control. To achievecost control, it is critical that there be individual accountability foreach call that incurs a charge to the institution. Such accountabilityis typically achieved through use of personal identification numbers(“pins”). Before making a call from an institution telephone, anindividual must enter his PIN. The telephone service provider is thenable to deliver to the institution an end-of-the-month telephone billwhich lists, in addition to the cost of each call, the PIN or name ofthe individual who made the call. From this information, the institutioncan then collect reimbursement from individuals for the costs of certaincalls.

While this system of end-of-the-month call accounting functionsreasonably effectively in a business like environment, it does not workwell in a penal institution. The reason is that inmates show littleconcern for phone bills they can't afford to pay. Thus, the institutionis often forced to absorb the costs of phone calls by its delinquentinmates. Moreover, the fact that account balances are only computedperiodically—i.e., every month, week, or even every day—permits theinmate to accrue large, uncollectible phone bills before his access tothe phones can be terminated. Traditionally, penal institutions haveaddressed this problem by restricting inmates to collect calls only.This, however, still provides the inmates with relatively unlimitedaccess to the outside world, leaving open numerous opportunities forfraudulent and criminal activity, as explained below. Therefore, in apenal environment, it is highly desirable to regulate phone access on anindividual, pay-in-advance basis, and to immediately and automaticallyterminate an individual's phone access when his/her paid-up accountreaches a zero balance.

Another problem in penal institutions is the inmates' desire to makethreatening or harassing phone calls to witnesses, prosecutors, policeofficers, parole officers, psychologists, judges, and the relatives andfamily of such persons. Limiting the inmates' access to collect callsonly does not effectively address this problem, since an inmate caneasily identify himself (to an operator) as someone from whom therecipient would likely accept a collect call. Rather, one should, at aminimum, provide a means that permits a potential call recipient toidentify the caller as an inmate before accepting the call, whether thatcall is placed on a prepaid or collect basis. Conventionally, this isdone by initially placing the inmate on hold and playing a pre-recordedmessage telling the recipient that a call has been placed from acorrectional facility and that, if the recipient wishes not to receivethe call, he/she should hang up before the call is connected. Thisapproach mitigates, but does not fully solve, the harassment problem. Inparticular, it is still possible for an inmate to repetitively call anoutside party; even if the recipient hangs up after hearing thepre-recorded message, the harassing effect of receiving repetitive callsfrom inside the correctional institution remains. Therefore, it would behighly desirable to provide an institutional telephone system thatautomatically prohibits inmates from attempting to call certain outsidepersons. Moreover, it would also be highly desirable to provide a methodand apparatus for allowing a recipient of an undesired call from aninmate to easily and automatically prohibit all future calls from thatparticular inmate, or from all inmates generally.

Still another concern in correctional institutions is the regulation ofaccess to telephone systems. For various security and managementreasons, it often desirable to restrict a given inmate's telephoneaccess to particular phones, calling times, and to limit the length ofcalls, number of calls, and number of calls to the same number. Also, toenhance security and discipline, it should be possible toinstantaneously revoke an inmate's calling privileges, or to otherwisemodify the extent of a particular inmate's calling privileges.

Correctional institutions also typically wish to monitor and/or recordoutgoing calls. Inmate-to-attorney calls, however, cannot legally bemonitored or recorded. Moreover, certain inmates—those who representparticular security risks—deserve live monitoring, as opposed to mererecording. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have a system whichautomatically initiates the appropriate monitoring and/or recordingdepending upon the identity of the inmate placing a call and therecipient of the call (i.e., attorney or non-attorney). Likewise, it maybe desirable that calls to certain numbers are to be monitored live,while others need only be recorded.

Because the message content of inmate-to-attorney calls cannot belegally recorded or monitored, such calls can serve as a conduit for theinmate's illegal telephone activity. Therefore, it would be highlydesirable to have a system which could passively—that is, without in anyway monitoring or recording what is actually being said—monitorinmate-to-attorney calls to ensure that: (1) the only two peoplespeaking on the line are the inmate and attorney, and/or (2) no DTMFtones, rapid line impedance changes, off-hook conditions or voltagespikes appear on the line. Techniques for voice identification areknown—i.e. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,068, entitled UNFORGEABLE PERSONALIDENTIFICATION SYSTEM and U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,357, entitled INTEGRATEDCOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM, both incorporated herein by reference—but havenot been previously used in penal telecommunications applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the above, one object of the invention is a method ofmanaging telephone activity in an institutional environment to achieveimproved security and reduced cost. Another object of the invention is asystem adapted to perform such improved institutional telephonemanagement.

Still another object of the invention is a method and apparatus forallowing outside recipients of calls from an institution to decide, inadvance of connecting the call, whether to accept the given call andwhether to block calls from that person and/or others within theinstitution or related institutions in the future, and optionally,whether to indicate to the inmate that the call has been eithertemporarily or permanently blocked by a particular party, including theprison administration, or the actual party called by the inmate, or thatthe number called by the inmate can not be reached for any number ofreasons, as established by the prison administration, or the actualparty called by the inmate.

Yet another object of the invention is a method and apparatus forpassively monitoring a telephone connection to detect security breaches.

A still further object of the invention is an institutional telephonemanagement system wherein the parameters that control the operation ofthe system as well as the records of system activity are stored in acentral database, thereby permitting simple customization of systemoperation, generation of reports and monitoring of status.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method of managingtelephone activity in an institution includes the steps of: (1)identifying an institutional caller (the “calling party”) who wishes toplace an outside call to an outside recipient (the “called party”); (2)blocking the institutional caller and—while the institutional caller'sline (earpiece and/or mouthpiece) remains blocked—(a) calling saidoutside recipient (called party), (b) providing the identity of saidinstitutional caller to said outside recipient and (c) receiving acontrol code from said outside recipient; and (3) determining, inresponse to said control code, whether to connect the institutionalcaller to the outside recipient, and optionally, whether to indicate anyof a plurality of messages to the calling party, e.g., an inmate. Thecontrol code preferably comprises a series of DTMF tones, for examplethe sequence 4688, which spells the pneumonic “GOTU”. In response to therecognition of a control code, the outside recipient is provided withthe option (via a voice prompt menu) of prohibiting any future callsfrom the particular institutional caller or, if desired, prohibitingcalls from any person within the institution and/or relatedinstitutions. Alternatively, if voice prompting or voice menus are notavailable or not desired, then the public-at-large can be informed thatthe “GOTU” feature is available in their area, and with respect tocertain institutions in their area, and then, upon receipt of undesiredcalls from such institutions, the called party can enter the “GOTU”touchtone or keypad sequence. Any multitude of call prohibitions can beestablished as to any particular inmate by the prison administration orthe called party, including total blocking based on the called party'stelephone number, blocking during particular time periods, blockingbased on the class of the crime associated with a particular inmate,etc.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an apparatus formanaging telephone activity in an institution includes: a plurality ofinstitutional telephones located within the institution; a trunkmanagement unit (TMU) for selectively connecting the institutionaltelephones to one or more outside telephone lines, wherein the TMUincludes means for decoding DTMF tones generated by the institutionaltelephones or received from the outside telephone lines; and a computercontrol unit (CCU), coupled to the TMU, for controlling the connectionof the institutional telephones to the outside telephone lines basedupon DTMF tone(s) received from the outside telephone lines. A databaseassociated with the CCU contains information regarding the callingprivileges of each person within the institution. In a preferredembodiment, the TMU—prior to connecting the call—plays an announcementto the called party identifying the institution and caller, along withthe options available to the called party. In response, the called partymay enter the announced DTMF tone sequence (preferably GOTU), whichmodifies a record in the database, thereby prohibiting the caller(and/or other similarly situated prospective callers) from calling thecalled party in the future.

Other features of the TMU provide security and monitoring functions. Theinvention provides three levels of monitoring, any or all of which maybe active for any given call. The first level is “live” call (voice)monitoring, where the prison officials actively listen to a live call.The second level is call recording. The TMU can be programmed to enableassociated recording equipment to record telephone calls. The thirdlevel is “passive” line monitoring, where the TMU detects, for example,DTMF tones, off-hook conditions, voltage spikes and/or sudden lineimpedance changes, in order to thwart attempts at unauthorized three-waycalling, call conferencing, call transferring, call forwarding orre-dialing via various alternate common carriers, many of whom now offer“1-800” or local telephone number (e.g., “950”) access numbers. Also,care is taken to avoid disrupting calls that do not represent securitybreaches, by preventing false triggering of the above “passive” linemonitoring features. For example, with respect to DTMF tone blocking,the TMU will look for any additional digits entered by an institutionalcaller, such as an inmate, to prevent the inmate from redialing to othertelephone numbers that may not be authorized. However, to prevent“talkoff”, whereby the normal telephone conversation can falsely triggera disconnect signal (because the TMU may interpret the conversation asDTMF dialing), the TMU can be set to look at the number of digits dialedwithin a specified time period (e.g., six (6) digits within a fifteen(15) second time period, or any variation of the two parameters) andthereby, determine whether the audio information is indicative ofunauthorized DTMF redialing or just a normal speech or voice pattern.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, all callsare passively monitored and all calls that can be legally recorded—i.e.,all but inmate-to-attorney calls—are recorded. At any time, prisonofficials can selectively invoke live monitoring to listen in on anycall in progress, except an inmate-to-attorney call. System alarms,which trigger any time a particular inmate places a call or calls acertain person, allow officials to determine when live call monitoringis appropriate. Likewise, the telephone system of the present. inventioncan be programmed to default in any manner. For example, the system canbe set to place only those telephone calls that are among a preapprovedlist of telephone numbers. Conversely, the system can be set to placeall telephone calls except those that are among a list of restrictedtelephone numbers. Optionally, the telephone system of the presentinvention can include speed-dialing, whereby upon entering a PIN, forexample, an inmate can enter “11” followed by the “#” key. In that case,the prison administrator may have established that “11” is thespeed-dialing sequence for that inmate's mother. Of course, the systemcould be configured so that the inmates themselves can program thetelephone system with speed-dialing digits, however, a principalobjective of speed-dialing is to save time at the telephone, thus makingthe telephones available to the largest number of inmates in theshortest possible time period.

In addition, the invention may include biometric voice verificationfeatures. The TMU, for example, may digitize a sample of the caller'svoice. The CCU then compares the digitized sample with a stored voiceprint, to verify the identity of the caller. Such biometric monitoringmay also be used in a passive call monitoring mode, wherein periodicsamples of the caller's voice are provided to the CCU—and checkedagainst a list of authorized voice prints—to ensure that no unauthorizedcallers are participating in a call, and to ensure that inmates are notsharing or selling relatively liberal calling privileges associated witha particular PIN or inmate account to other inmates that are subject tomore limited calling privileges. The use of biometric voice verification(or “voice prints”) can prevent PIN abuse in general. For example, if aparticular inmate with restricted calling privileges, or no availablefunds, attempted to force (e.g., by threatening physical attack) anotherinmate with relatively non-restricted calling privileges (or availablefunds) to turn over his PIN, biometric voice verification would obviatethis problem, as the voice would be used to validate entry into anyinmate account.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description below describes the preferred embodiments ofthe invention and is intended to be read in conjunction with the set ofdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the major components of a preferredapparatus, including a plurality of institutional telephones, a computercontrol unit (CCU) and a trunk management unit (TMU);

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the software and firmware architectureof the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary screen showing an institutional user's callingprivileges and activity;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a TMU; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting the operation of the callqualification process, including the invention's prospective callscreening (or “GOTU”) feature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiment(s) will be described with reference to prisonbased call management. This, however, should not be viewed as limiting,since the invention is also applicable in other institutional settingssuch as military bases, schools, mental institutions and businessorganizations.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a call management system manages calls from aplurality of inmate telephones 1. A TMU 2 controls the connection ofindividual inmate telephones (for example 1 a) to outside telephonelines 8, and electronically monitors connected calls. A TMU 2 canoptionally contain (and/or be connected to external) voice messaging orvoice synthesis equipment, to facilitate features such as over-the-phonevoice prompting, voice mail, or any voice activated, responsive orinteractive telephone feature. For example, an inmate could enterhis/her PIN into a telephone 1 keypad, and then, access his/her account.In turn, voice equipment associated with or contained within the TMUcould inform the inmate of the exact balance available in his/heraccount for future telephone calls. Additionally, the inmate couldascertain how much any prior telephone call has cost, and further, coulddial an intended telephone call, and ascertain how much that call willcost for the first time period (e.g., the first minute), or, find outhow many minutes the inmate can be connected to that telephone number,given the cost of that call and the amount remaining in the inmate'saccount, all prior to actually completing the call and becomingobligated to pay for it. Obviously, for debit-based systems, inmatecalls will not be placed in the event that sufficient funds are notavailable. Further, if during a call connection, inmate funds becomenearly exhausted, a warning tone could inform the inmate of thatcondition, so that the inmate can terminate the conversation, and takeappropriate steps to replenish his/her account. Such warning tones couldbe made possible by a real time call cost monitoring system, thatcompares inmate call costs and inmate account balances while each callis in progress.

A serial interface card 4 digitally interfaces TMU 2 to: a CCU 3, one ormore administrative terminals 5 a-b and, via data modems 6 a-b, to aremote terminal 7. Of course, remote terminals 7, administrativeterminals 5 and CCUs 3 can be connected via so-called dedicateddata/telephone line services, obviating the need for actual modems 6.

TMU 2 communicates bi-directionally with CCU 3. In one direction, CCU 3directs TMU 2 to connect, record, passively monitor and terminate calls,and to download and/or play prerecorded messages to an inmate or outsidecall recipient. In the other direction, TMU 2 monitors the real-timestatus—i.e. off-hook, DTMF tones, voltage spikes and rapid impedancechanges—of institutional and outside telephone lines. In addition, TMU 2can provide digitized voice samples to CCU 3 in order to record messages(such as the inmate's name) and to support biometric voice verificationor monitoring functions. Optionally, TMU 2 (or other comparableapparatus) could be configured to provide digitized voice samples to,for example, CCU 3, for each call made, whereby such samples aresufficient in length to provide verification that the inmate indeedparticipated in a conversation with a particular called party on aparticular date and at a particular time. Because prison administratorsmay not wish to charge inmates (or in the case of collect calls, calledparties) for certain calls (for example, calls the administrator deemsincomplete), it is critical that administrators have the ability toverify actual telephone communications. Incomplete telephone calls mayinclude, for example, busy signals, calls that do not “go through”,calls that are not answered (as distinct from calls that reach answeringmachines, which may be deemed:complete), etc. Thus, if an inmate or acalled party subsequently claims that a particular telephonecommunication never occurred (e.g., a busy signal was reached, thecalled party never answered, or no voices were spoken at all), theprison administer can retrieve the voice verification record to evaluatewhether, e.g., a credit is due, telephone system repair is required, orwhether claims that certain calls were incomplete are false.

Referring now to FIG. 2, CCU 3 is preferably a “486” personal computeror larger “super-mini” type computer configured to operate under asuitable operating system, such as UNIX™ System V. Of course, any numberof operating systems will be suitable for the purpose of the presentinvention. In addition to the operating system, a database managementsystem (DBMS), such as ORACLE™, which includes a structured querylanguage (SQL) interface, is used to store system configuration andstatus information. An SQL forms generator provides access to the storedconfiguration and status information. An SQL menu program allows usersto easily navigate the database system. An SQL report writer is used togenerate reports of calling activity or other system usage.

TMU firmware controls the operation of TMU 2. TMU interface software inCCU 3 is configured to manage communication between TMU 2 and CCU 3.ORACLE interface software provides a simple, menu based interface tofield users such as correctional officers and management officials.Real-time control software manages the real-time activity of the systemand responds to communications from TMU 2 and user inputs from CCU 3 orterminals 5 a-b and 7.

From an administrator/user perspective, the CCU software supports thefollowing general functions:

-   -   (1) establishment and configuration of individual inmate data        and monetary accounts;    -   (2) checking of inmate debit (i.e. paid-in-advance) accounts;    -   (3) setting of global (i.e. institution wide) and individual        restrictions on telephone access;    -   (4) real-time monitoring of inmate telephone calls and alerts        (based on call content, security breaches, etc.), along with the        ability to cut off inmate calls individually or globally;    -   (5) storing and reporting of detailed inmate call details and        account information; and    -   (6) storing and reporting of telephone usage data.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an exemplary form 30 provides easy access tovarious information regarding an inmate's debit account, callingprivileges and calling activity. The FIG. 3 form includes a titlesegment 31, which displays the current date, title of the form and formcode. Below the title segment is a header segment 32, which typicallydisplays such information as the inmate's name, registration number,preferred language selection, prisoner account code (“PAC”, or PIN),certain calling privilege information and account balance. Below theheader are a plurality of data blocks 33, which show the inmate'stransactions (both accounting transactions and phone calls) as well ashis/her calling privileges and restrictions—i.e., numbers the inmate isallowed to call, the inmate's attorney's number, numbers the inmate isprohibited from calling, and numbers which should trigger an alert onthe system terminals when a call is attempted. The system allows theuser to scroll through the data blocks in order to bring any particulartransaction or restriction into view. A help line 34 lists the commandsavailable to the user. A bottom positioned status line 35 completes theform.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram of one channel of amultichannel TMU 2 is shown. Generally, TMU 2 includes circuitry toselectively connect inmate phones with outside lines, to selectivelymonitor and record the connection, and to generate appropriate voiceinstructions or prompts to the inmate and/or the outside call recipient.

As depicted in FIG. 4, a channel of TMU 2 connects to an inmatetelephone 1 at a station input line 40. A record blocking circuit 41connects station input line 40 to recording equipment (not depicted) vialine 41 a (which line can also be used for “live” call monitoring). CCU3 automatically controls an attorney relay 41 b and, in the case of aninmate-to-attorney call, switches line 41 a to a tone generator 41 c,thereby blocking improper attempts to record or monitorinmate-to-attorney calls.

A split relay 42 switches the inmate telephone between a local line 42 aand an outside line 42 b. Initially (i.e. before the inmate initiates acall), split relay 42 connects station input line 40 (via local line 42a) to a monitor circuit 43, which monitors the inmate's telephone.Monitor circuit 43 supplies a battery feed to the inmate's telephone,and performs pulse digit recognition and current detection as well. Adial tone generator 43 a (which is preferably common to all channels ofthe TMU) supplies a dial tone to the inmate's phone. A relay 44 aswitches a DTMF receiver 44 to decode tones on the local line 42 a orthe outside line 42 b. A voice-out-station line 45 a supplies voicemessages to the inmate's telephone. CCU 3 controls the decoder portionof an integrated coder/decoder (CODEC) circuit to generate the messagesfed to line 45 a. (The decoder portion of a second CODEC also drives avoice out central office line 45 c to play messages to outside line 42b.) A central office voice input line 47 b connects to the coder portionof the CODEC circuit to support message recording, voice monitoringand/or verification functions. Optionally, voice-in-station 42 c is usedto record the name of an inmate. Also optional, answer board line 47 gis used to detect called party answer conditions, by detecting thepresence or loss of call progress tones (e.g., ringing, busy,special-information-tones (SITs), etc.).

A hold circuit 46 is used to interact with the outside caller during thecall qualification process, during which the station input line 40 isswitched to local line 42 a. A hold relay 46 a selectively connects holdcircuit 46 to outside line 42 b. A DTMF generator 46 c (preferablycommon to all channels of the TMU) is controlled by CCU 3 to, forexample, place an outside call to a requested number. Hold circuit 46interfaces with DTMF receiver 44 to detect tones generated by theoutside caller during the call qualification process. The hold circuit46 (with its associated relay 46 d) can also pass audio informationdirectly to the monitor circuit 43 as desired via audio feed throughline 46 b. The hold circuit 46 can also be used for dial-pulse dialingto the central office. Line current detector 47 a (preferablyimplemented using an opto-isolator), ring detector 47 e, and tip/grounddetector 47 d monitor the status of outside line 42 b. Ground startrelay 47 f connects a ground start circuit to the ring wire of outsidelines 48 a and 48 b, to start “ground-start” type lines. A line relay 48switches outside line 42 b between a central office main line 48 a and acentral office auxiliary line 48 b.

In addition to the channel circuitry described above, TMU 2 iscontrolled by a microprocessor 49 a, which interfaces with a watchdogtimer 49 b and with a memory 49 c, channel I/O 49 d, miscellaneous I/O49 e and dual serial ports 49 f via data, or so-called “glue” logic 49g. TMU 2 also includes a jack tester circuit 49 h and connectors 49 iand 49 j to answer and voice boards, respectively. The voice boardcontains a plurality of integrated CODECs (preferably two per TMUchannel) as well as circuitry needed to permit CCU control of theCODECs, including I/O circuitry and voice data buffers.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the method of connecting an inmate call can nowbe discussed. TMU 2 continuously monitors the inmate telephones 1. Toplace a call, in step 50, an inmate picks up a phone and enters twonumbers (in any order established by the facility): (1) his/her personalidentification number (PIN); and (2) the number to be called. TMU 2forwards both numbers to CCU 3, which, in step 51, queries the inmate'saccount to check whether:

-   -   (1) there are sufficient funds in the inmate's debit account to        make the call (unless the call is a collect call);    -   (2) the particular inmate is allowed to: (a) use the particular        telephone extension; (b) place calls at the given time-of-day;        or (c) has exceeded a maximum number of calls or calling minutes        within a given period of time; and    -   (3) based upon the number to be called, whether the number is        approved or prohibited, whether the number to be called        corresponds to the inmate's attorney (in which case, the        conversation will not be recorded or “live” monitored), and        whether there are any time-of-day or call frequency or other        restrictions on the number to be called.

If the call is rejected on the basis of (1)-(3) above, CCU 3 directs TMU2 to play a message to the inmate (in the inmate's preferred language,determined by his/her PIN and established when the prisoner first entersthe facility) explaining the reason that the call has been rejected.Assuming that the requested call has passed these initial screeningtests, CCU 2 directs TMU 2 to call the destination party. Untilcompletion of step 53 or 55, the inmate's earpiece and mouthpiece remainblocked (with respect to the called party), thereby eliminating theinmate's opportunity to interject offensive or harassing remarks. Instep 52, the destination or called party receives the call and hears aprerecorded message which identifies the institution, caller and givesinstructions as to how the called party may elect to receive the calland how the party may block future calls, if desired. The message may,for example, state:

-   -   “You are receiving a call from [name of inmate] at the [name of        institution]. If you wish to be connected, please press [a        certain digit] now and the call will be connected in [number]        seconds. If you wish to prohibit future calls from [name of        inmate] or anyone at [name of institution], please press G-O-T-U        or 4688 . . .”        Advantageously, the pronunciation of inmate's name is stored        once in the database and retrieved each time the message is        generated. This eliminates the risk of an inmate interjecting a        short message in place of his/her name. The pronunciation of an        inmate's name may be synthesized from well-known commercially        available electronic phoneme sets, or may be reproduced from a        voice data file created by the actual inmate or administrator.        For example, when an inmate first enters a corrections facility,        he/she may be instructed to recite his/her name into a voice        recorder via a microphone. Then, that voice can be stored        permanently into a file associate with that inmate's calling        account and/or PIN, and can be automatically replayed as        desired.

In step 53, the destination party is allowed a specified time todetermine whether to accept the call, hang up or press GOTU to invokethe invention's prospective call screening feature. During this period,TMU 2 monitors the line and transmits any received DTMF tones to CCU 3.If, in step 53, the destination party presses GOTU (depicted as step54), CCU 3 stores a record in the inmate's account that prohibits theinmate from calling the destination party in the future and optionallyalerts prison officials of any future attempts to place such calls.Optionally, step 54 may also prompt the destination caller as to whetherhe/she would like to prohibit all future calls from inmates within theparticular prison or any associated prison employing the same or similarcall management technology. Also, the destination caller may be promptedby any number of other alternatives. For example, the called party maybe instructed to press “1” to reject all future calls from that inmate;press “2” to reject all future calls from that prison; press “3” togenerate a busy signal to the inmate—in that event, the calling party(inmate) would hear a busy signal in his/her earpiece; press “4” tostate that “The number you have dialed has been disconnected”; press “5”to enter certain times of the day or dates to block calls from thisinmate in the future; and so forth. Also, the called party can be giventhe phone number of the prison telephone system service bureau, so thatpreviously issued instructions to block calls (from particular inmatesor facilities) can be erased. In any event, the called party's responseis transmitted to CCU 2. If the response represents a desire to prohibitcalls from all inmates, CCU 2 records a global calling restriction inthe database associated with the particular institution, and ifappropriate, transmits the restriction to other related institutions viaa computer network. Step 55 handles forwarded calls in a similar manner.Thus, the GOTU feature serves to blocks calls from inmates, based on thenumber that the inmate has dialed—either by entering that number to alist of restricted numbers, or by deleting that number from a list ofpreapproved numbers, depending upon how the administrator has configuredthe inmate telephone system. In any event, the inmate will lose accessto that telephone number in the future, based on the fact that thecalled party has entered the GOTU (“4688”) keypad sequence. Optionally,the GOTU feature can also be configured to control the costs of collectcalls accepted by the destination party. In that event, the destinationparty could, for example, in response to a voice prompt, enter a dollarvalue limit corresponding to the maximum permissible cost of the currentinmate call. As well, any series of warning tones could be establishedto inform both parties that the call is approaching the dollar limit, atwhich point the call could be terminated, or alternatively, thedestination party given the opportunity to waive or extend the presetlimit.

In light of the above, one can appreciate how the GOTU feature of thepresent invention effectively eliminates the possibility of telephoneharassment. Advantageously, the GOTU feature also finds use in astandard (i.e. non-institutional) telephone system. For example, a localtelephone company may provide a service whereby a called party, afterpicking-up the telephone and receiving a call from an undesired caller,dials a predetermined sequence (e.g., “*GOTU”) to prohibit the current,undesirable caller from ever calling again from the same line.Implementation of this feature at the local phone company level isstraightforward, and can easily be accomplished using existingtechnology and equipment associated with the telephone circuit of thecalling party.

While the invention has been described with reference to one or morepreferred embodiments, such embodiments are merely exemplary and are notintended to be limiting or represent an exhaustive enumeration of allaspects of the invention. The scope of the invention, therefore, shallbe defined solely by the following claims.

1. A method of managing telephone activity from an institution,comprising: receiving a telephone number associated with a destinationparty outside the institution over an institutional telephone from aninstitutional caller for placing a telephone call to the destinationparty; and blocking a mouthpiece of the institutional telephone andwhile the institutional telephone is blocked: calling the telephonenumber associated with the destination party; identifying theinstitutional caller to the destination party; and providing thedestination party with call-blocking directions, wherein thecall-blocking directions describe how to block future calls from aninstitutional caller set that comprises at least one of theinstitutional caller, a portion of calling parties within theinstitution, or a portion of calling parties from within more than oneinstitution.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying theinstitutional caller to the destination party further comprisesproviding a name of the institutional caller.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein providing the destination party with call-blocking directionsfurther comprises providing the destination party with a voice messagedescribing how to block future calls from the institutional caller set.4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving dual-tonemulti-frequency (“DTMF”) tones from the destination party, the DTMFtones indicative of whether to prohibit the institutional caller fromcalling the destination party in the future.
 5. The method of claim 4,further comprising decoding the received DTMF tones by the institutionaltelephone system.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising comparingthe decoded DTMF tones to a predetermined DTMF control code sequence. 7.The method of claim 1, further comprising storing data representative ofcalling privileges of the institutional caller in a database.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein blocking of the institutional telephone isperformed by a trunk management unit controlled by a microprocessor. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein providing the destination party withcall-blocking directions is performed by a computer system.
 10. A methodof managing telephonic communications, comprising: placing a telephonecall to a telephone number associated with a destination party bytelephony equipment; blocking a mouthpiece of the telephony equipmentassociated with the institutional calling party; inserting acall-blocking message into the telephone call to the telephone number bythe telephony equipment that placed the telephone call, thecall-blocking message including call-blocking directions; and receivinga tone-based call-blocking instruction in accordance with thecall-blocking directions that requests blocking of future telephonecalls to the telephone number for calls placed by an institutionalcaller set.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein receiving a tone-basedcall-blocking instruction further comprises receiving DTMF tones. 12.The method of claim 11, further comprising decoding the received DTMFtones by the telephony equipment associated with the calling party. 13.The method of claim 12, further comprising comparing the decoded DTMFtones to a predetermined DTMF control code sequence to determine whetherto prohibit the institutional calling party from calling the destinationparty in the future.
 14. The method of claim 10, further comprisingstoring data representative of calling privileges of the institutionalcalling party in a database.
 15. The method of claim 10 wherein blockingthe mouthpiece of the telephony equipment is performed by a trunkmanagement unit controlled by a microprocessor.